FCC gives Hollywood control over your home theater

The Motion Picture Association of America and the cable companies have won. …

After almost two years of deliberation, the Federal Communications Commission has granted Hollywood and cable companies permission to shut down analog streams to HDTV equipped home theaters. The geek term for this is "selectable output control" (SOC)—until now forbidden by the FCC. The Motion Picture Association of America requested a waiver on the SOC ban in May of 2008, arguing that without it, Hollywood studios could not securely offer consumers pre-DVD released movies on television.

"We conclude that the service that MPAA proposes would serve the public interest and that providers of first-run theatrical content are unlikely to offer the service absent the ability to activate SOC," the agency's Order, released on Friday, explains. "While a waiver of the SOC prohibition will prevent consumers who rely on unprotected audiovisual outputs from accessing this service, we are convinced that in the absence of a waiver the service will not be offered at all."

That "unprotected audiovisual outputs" bit means that it's tough input jacks for consumers who bought early HDTV systems that didn't include digital connections like HDMI. The studios want to limit output to digital because the scrambleable streams are less easy to illegally copy. So analog only HDTV systems won't be able to get in on this early run movie action.

But the FCC did add some conditions to this waiver on the SOC ban.

Strings attached

First, these waiver windows will only last for 90 days after the first activation of the analog stream block, or until the retail release of the movie on some form of prerecorded media (such as DVD or Blu-Ray)—whichever cut-off date comes first. The MPAA actually asked that the deadline "not include media formats comparable to the new Services, such as prerecorded media with restrictions on output to protected digital interfaces." The FCC saw this for what it was—in effect a request for a limitless waiver as new video viewing systems (such as Blu-Ray) replace DVDs.

"As DVDs are phased out and retired as a source of prerecorded media, this could lead to the unintended consequence of allowing an SOC waiver to continue in perpetuity," the agency noted.

Second, the SOC waiver will only apply to CableLabs approved digital outputs for cable, direct broadcast satellite, and IP video systems. "We must ensure that MVPDs [multi-video programming distributors] do not develop a preference for an output that would discriminate against retail devices in favor of proprietary devices," the agency's Order warned. "No commenter has suggested that protected outputs like HDMI provide inadequate protection for high-value content"—HDMI being the popular digital connector for HDTVs, DVDs, DVRs and other devices.

"This output certification process must be based on objective criteria that the Commission can consider on appeal, if necessary," the Commission adds. And non-MPAA member studios can also take advantage of the waiver.

Third, the studios and their cable partners must offer instructions on how people with hearing disabilities can access closed captioning while watching these early run movies.

Finally, the FCC reserves the right to review the impact of the waiver, requiring MPAA members to submit a report every two years advising whether SOC "has been an effective tool in combating illegal copying of these films during the early release window."

Reactions

So there you have it: 90 days, HDMI, a two year review, and some help for people with disabilities. None of that's making the reform group Public Knowledge a happy camper. Strongly opposed to the MPAA's request, PK and the Consumer Electronics Association both argued that an SOC waiver would effectively disable millions of home theaters. PK even managed to convince the previous FCC Chair, Kevin Martin, not to support a waiver on the SOC ban.

Looks like that influence didn't extend to this regime.

"We are disappointed that the [FCC's] Media Bureau has succumbed to the special-interest pleadings of the big media companies and ignored the thousands of letters from consumers," Public Knowledge's Gigi Sohn told us. The order "will allow the big firms for the first time to take control of a consumer's TV set or set-top box, blocking viewing of a TV program or motion picture."

"At no point in this proceeding did any of the content companies make the case that any ‘piracy' was occurring because material was sneaking out of the back of a TV set onto the Internet," PK added.

The FCC's Media Bureau clearly didn't see it this way:

"We disagree with Public Knowledge’s (PK) assertion that MPAA has failed to provide specific evidence of illegal copying through unprotected outputs. While it would be impossible to demonstrate specific evidence of illegal copying for a service that does not yet exist, MPAA has provided specific evidence that illegal copying exists, and that unprotected outputs on the set-top box have led to unauthorized rebroadcast of content. For example, MPAA points out that unauthorized copies of television shows are online so quickly that copies that air on the East Coast are available before they air on the West Coast. Furthermore, a pay-per-view boxing event was broadcast online without authorization simultaneously with its airing on pay-per-view. MPAA argues that if the Video-on-Demand ('VoD') release window is moved earlier, illegal copiers will focus on the earlier VoD release."

We've been pretty skeptical about an SOC waiver ourselves, contending that consumers who spent big chunks of money on early HDTV systems have the right to access major new services—especially this one, which will immediately become the most valuable offering on pay TV.

We're also wondering how quickly sports and dramatic series programmers are going to ask to get in on this, and how the FCC is going to explain that a waiver on the SOC ban is good enough for Hollywood, but not good enough for them.

Matthew Lasar / Matt writes for Ars Technica about media/technology history, intellectual property, the FCC, or the Internet in general. He teaches United States history and politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz.